One of the goals of matching services is to help their users achieve successful relationships with other users. Online matching services thus have developed effective systems that identify and match the users who have the potential to establish a successful relationship. A well-known example of such a service is eHarmony, Inc. (which can be found at www.eharmony.com). An online matching service generally collects and stores data to create a “profile” for each user. The online matching service then correlates that user's profile with others in its database to assess which profiles are compatible, i.e., which users have the potential for a successful relationship when matched, and which are not compatible. The online matching service then emails the compatible profiles to that user, or presents the compatible profiles to that user when that user accesses the online matching service.
With the proliferation of smart phones and portable devices, users of the online matching services have become more mobile. Many of the smart phones and portable devices provide the users with access to the wireless data services, which allow the users to access their email or their online matching services without having to be at home or in an office with Internet connection. In such instances, a user still needs to log into their accounts to review the compatible profiles. Further, the mobile users may want to know if any of their compatible profiles are currently nearby so they may initiate a meeting. The process of logging into the online matching service, reviewing the compatible profiles, and finding if any of the compatible profiles may be at a location at a certain time may be too time consuming and may discourage the mobile user from using the online matching service. It is also cumbersome, if not impossible, for the mobile users to log in and update their current and future locations all the time. As a result, information about geographic locations of the users and of their compatible profiles, especially those who are mobile, may either be non-existent or inaccurate.
In another example, the user of the online matching service may want to let other users of the service know that he is free to meet with other nearby users. If nearby users are not logged in to receive a notification that the user is free to meet, they will lose the chance to meet each other. Accordingly, systems and methods for allowing a user of an online matching service to announce his availability and for presenting to the user his compatible profiles based on the current geographic locations of the user and the compatible profiles may be desirable.